Evaluation of vocal changes after vestibular rehabilitation in patients with balance disorders

BACKGROUND: Although there are articles and studies that associate postural changes with changes in vocal quality, to the best of our knowledge, this was the first study investigating the association between balance disorders and voice. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine whether patients with balance disorders present any clinical, acoustic, or endoscopic vocal changes, and if the correction of balance impairments, such as through vestibular rehabilitation, lead to improvement in vocal quality. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study that analyzed vocal differences (clinical, videoendostroboscopic, audio-perceptual, and acoustic vocal parameters) in a sample of 43 patients with vestibular dysfunction at three different time points (pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3 months’ post-treatment) diagnosed by videonystagmography with changes in computerized dynamic posturography who were treated with vestibular rehabilitation. RESULTS: In pre-treatment, all of the patients presented supraglottic hyperfunction during videoendoscopic examination and abnormal values in the audio-perceptual scale. After treatment for balance disorders, there was a statistically significant improvement in some parameters of the videoendoscopic and audio-perceptual measures. These improvements were detected immediately after treatment and remained present until at least three months after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggested that the treatment for balance disorders results in changes in posture and consequently in voice quality.